Hold my beer and watch this....

According to their official blurb the Race sits slap bang between the tissue paper Light version and the armoured Extra model. In theory it should occupy the sweetspot between handling, grip and robustness?

I did a little over 400 miles before ripping them off my Grade as I got fed up of dealing with punctures roughly every 100 miles. The tyres I replaced them with have done over 800 miles now, including some rough off-road MTB type riding and not had a puncture yet, not a single one.

OK, fast forward several months and I am in a quandary because the 35c Schwalbe tyres on my downtrodden commuter are starting to look a bit tired. The rear has a definite smooth ring along the centre while the front still has plenty to give, I have a choice.

I can swap the Schwalbes front to back and continue until they both die.

I can buy a new set of tyres and throw out the perfectly serviceable partworns.

There is always that practically new set of Continentals hung up in the bike shed and maybe they would liven up the ride of the old hybrid workhorse?

Against my better judgement I admit that yesterday I tried the Continentals. They fitted on ok, they don't look too skinny although there is certainly a great deal more clearance under the mudguards and they should be perfect for this weekends Manchester-Blackpool ride.

Who can guess how far I got before an insignificant shard of glass found its way through the tyre and tube to liberate the air molecules trapped inside?

Hold my beer and watch this....

A bit further than that, but not much, 1.92 miles to be precise. Fitted around midday and both tyres closely inspected and stayed up until I popped out on a short errand before tea time. Came to get the bike out this morning for the school run and sure enough, back tyre was flat as a flat thing. A quick inspection showed a small glass fragment embedded in the rubber. The carcass of these tyres must practically open up and beckon in these little pieces of detritus from the road surface. It has always been the same mode of failure, never anything sizeable like a nail or pallet fragment, just tiny glass bits that every other tyre I have ridden will shrug off most of the time.

Anyway, lesson learnt and back to plan A. Swap the best tyre to the back and carry on.....

Anybody want a set of Continental road tyres completely FOC, please just come and take them away before I do something I might regret (like using them again)!

Hold my beer and watch this....

I almost wouldn't mind if the bike they were originally spec'd on was a super lightweight race machine, but it isn't. The Grade is a ruffty-tuffty enduroad/allroad bike marketed as a go anywhere, ride anything, get off the beaten track adventure bike. I almost can't believe there could be a less suitable tyre for the job!

Guru

Veteran

I'm seriously impressed with the Vittoria Zaffiro Pro 28s I'm using now, my Felt VR like the Grade is intended to sit between a cyclocross and a road bike, and I treat it as such. Had one puncture in 2k or so miles and that was freshly smashed glass that I was unable to avoid riding over as I wasn't paying attention properly (too busy shouting at the scrotes smashing glass). Wore them down to the casing too.

Fuelled with Jelly Babies

I have had a good run on Schwalbe Durano Plus which were recommended to me by some high mileage cyclechatters.

I wouldn't put a worn tyre on the front to get more mileage out of it. A front blowout is more likely throw you off than one on the rear .You could put the less worn front one on the back an a new one on the front to get a bit more value out of them.